Cross Training Thoth with Quest Tarot.

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I FINALLY started breaking the Quest Tarot open, and it is very interesting. I am putting this here and not there for GOOD reason, and that deck is pretty much getting studied card by card, and this doesn't fit that model. I am not sure if I can start a thread on an intensive study of it, but it was THOTH that helped me crack it open. Specifically Goethe's Color Theory and Projective Synthetic Geometry. I leanred more about Thoth studying one single component of this deck that what few books I have read besides Book of Thoth.

First things first, I wanted to look at his I Ching Correlations. I thought it normal Martin has a way to find all 64 Hexagrams (common enough), but in the book he mentions that he puts some on the cards, but not all. He then proceeds to tell you none of what he did, and says little more than just giving you a chart and the hexagrams in their entirety.

Well, I am nothing if not inquisitive, and I follow my instincts, which lead right from here to the Runes... but anyways, a quick flip through the deck made me realize he attributes 36 of the I Ching to the Pip Cards. But Which 36? So I grabbed the deck, and paper and 777 and some stuff and made my way through. I found the first thing about this deck I don't like. He "replaces" the suit of Disks with Stones. I got a problem with that, not philosophically, but practically. I write suit in shorthand for readings and study, and 7s means SWORDS, and 7d means DISKS. well with this deck 7d now means Diadems, or even Droplets, cause I am not changing my shorthand. I fumbled with my own shorthand SO much that first day, but the second day it felt more natural, Diadems sounds pretty anyway.

So anyways, FINALLY, I got his attributions and in the next post, I will tell you and how they are of use to THOTH deck users:

2 of Cups - 1 : Heaven enthroned on Heaven
6 of Wands - 2 : Earth enthroned on Earth
4 of Cups - 3 : Water enthroned on Thunder
7 of Cups - 4 : Mountain enthroned on Water
9 of Swords - 6 : Heaven enthroned on Water
9 of Wands - 7 : Earth enthroned on Water
5 of Cups - 9 : Wind enthroned on Heaven
2 of Swords - 11 : Earth enthroned on Heaven
7 of Disks - 12 : Heaven enthroned on Earth
3 of Disks - 13 : Heaven enthroned on Fire
9 of Disks - 14 : Fire enthroned on Heaven
2 of Disks - 16 : Earth enthroned on Mountain
8 of Swords - 21 : Fire enthroned on Thunder
5 of Disks - 23 : Mountain enthroned on Earth
4 of Swords - 24 : Earth enthroned on Thunder
2 of Wands - 26 : Mountain enthroned on Heaven
3 of Cups - 28 : Lake enthroned on Wind
10 of Swords - 29 : Water enthroned on Water
3 of Swords - 33 : Heaven enthroned on Mountain
8 of Wands - 35 : Fire enthroned on Earth
7 of Swords - 36 : Earth enthroned on Fire
7 of Wands - 40 : Thunder enthroned on Water
8 of Cups - 41 : Mountain enthroned on Lake
9 of Cups - 42 : Wind enthroned on Thunder
10 of Cups - 46 : Earth enthroned on Wind
5 of Swords - 47 : Lake enthroned on Water
10 of Disks - 48 : Water enthroned on Wind
5 of Wands - 49 : Lake enthroned on Fire
3 of Wands - 50 : Fire enthroned on Wind
4 of Disks - 51 : Thunder enthroned on Thunder
10 of Wands - 54 : Thunder enthroned on Lake
6 of Disks - 55 : Thunder enthroned on Fire
6 of Cups - 58 : Lake enthroned on Lake
6 of Swords - 61 : Wind enthroned on Lake
8 of Disks - 62 : Thunder enthroned on Mountain
4 of Wands - 63 : Water enthroned on Fire

 

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In the first post, I put the Pip card, Hexagram, and a general alignment of what I call the "Throne" and the "Crown", the Lower and Upper Hexagrams. So, he uses 36, cause there are 36 cards. Well, why THOSE 36? So I srated poking deeper. I know a bit about I Ching and a lot of these just match up meaning to meaning, but some are a bit unconventional.

The first two were enough to let me know there is something to it:

Heaven enthroned on Heaven
Earth enthroned on Earth

2 of Cups as masculine? Venus in Cancer?
6 of Wands as feminine? Jupiter in Leo?

Look at the background of the cards, that was enough for me to check it out further.

On the 2 of Cups, there are 6 streams of water issued forth (2 from the lotus, 2 bouncing off the fish, 2 coming from their mouths). The Green of Venus meets with the Blue of the Moon, which rules Cancer. Chokmah of Briah.

Crowley has this to say in Book of Thoth:

The Two of Cups is the Lord of Love, which performs a similar office for water.

Note: that similar office is representing best the purest ideal of it's element.

On the 6 of Wands there are 9 flames at the intersections of 6 wands, 6 and 9 = Cancer. The wands are in symmetrical pairs, 2 faces, 2 wings, 2 lotuses. Same imagery rings true. Tiphareth of Atziluth.

Crowley has this to say in Book of Thoth:

The Six of Wands is called Victory. The outburst of energy in the Five of Wands, which was so sudden and violent that it even gave the idea of strife, has now completely won success. The rule, or lordship, in the suit of Wands is not quite as stable as it might have been if there had been less energy displayed. So, from this point, as soon as the curient leaves the middle pillar, the inherent weakness in the element of Fire (which is this: that, for all its purity, it is not completely balanced) leads to very undesirable develo~ ments.

How odd these two cards inform each other? How do they fit together?

I wrote an article on Liber 27 (Trigrammaton) before, and I still love and use it.

Here is

"Heaven"

Then only was Heaven established to bear sway; for only in the lowest corruption is form manifest.

and "Earth"

Therefore was the end of it sorrow; yet in that sorrow a sixfold star of glory whereby they might see to return unto the stainless Abode; yea, unto the Stainless Abode.

So we see that alone, with the Heaven bearing sway in the Two of cups, it is the Double Lotus that is Heaven over Heaven, not the fish... they are the corruption downpouring. And from his words about the 6 of Wands, we see there is in fact a breaking down of everything due to such a excessive outpouring, which in turn goes back to nothing in three forms, and becomes a new container.

These fulfill L.V.X. and N.O.X. PERFECTLY! Though they seem to imply the opposite. More to come, including how there are 36 cards in a 6 by 6 grid.

That is when it gets complex and good!